NFL: Brady tops Manning, Patriots beat Bronc..

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Foxborough, Mass. • Tom Brady won his latest showdown with Peyton Manning with the help of a career-high 151 yards rushing from Stevan Ridley and the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 31-21 on Sunday.

In the 13th meeting between the star quarterbacks, and first since Manning left the Indianapolis Colts, Brady directed four scoring marches of at least 80 yards and the Patriots rushed for 252 yards.

Brady improved to 9-4 against Manning, He completed 23 of 31 passes for 223 yards and one touchdown and ran for another. Manning was 31 of 44 for 345 yards and three touchdowns but lost a fumble on a third-quarter sack. The fumble led to Ridley's 8-yard run that put the Patriots (3-2) ahead 31-7 with about five minutes left in the third quarter.

Manning then threw touchdown passes of 2 yards to Eric Decker and 5 yards to Brandon Stokley but Denver (2-3) lost a fumble with 3:42 remaining. —

Broncos-Patriots Stats

Denver 21, New England 31

Denver 0 7 7 7 — 21

New England 7 10 14 0 — 31

First Quarter

NE • Welker 8 pass from Brady (Gostkowski kick), 3:08.

Second Quarter

Den • Dreessen 1 pass from Manning (Prater kick), 14:05.

NE • Vereen 1 run (Gostkowski kick), 7:57.

NE • FG Gostkowski 23, :02.

Third Quarter

NE • Brady 1 run (Gostkowski kick), 5:00.

NE • Ridley 8 run (Gostkowski kick), 4:42.

Den • Decker 2 pass from Manning (Prater kick), 1:08.

Fourth Quarter

Den • Stokley 5 pass from Manning (Prater kick), 6:43.

Attendance • 68,756.

Den NE

First downs 22 35

Total Net Yards 402 444

Rushes-yards 20-70 54-251

Passing 332 193

Punt Returns 0-0 1-5

Kickoff Returns 4-61 2-23

Interceptions Ret. 0-0 0-0

Comp-Att-Int 31-44-0 23-31-0

Sacked-Yards Lost 2-13 4-30

Punts 3-45.7 3-43.0

Fumbles-Lost 3-3 2-1

Penalties-yards 4-21 6-59

Time of Possession 24:11 35:49

Individual Statistics

Rushing • Denver, McGahee 14-51, Hillman 3-9, Manning 2-9, Ball 1-1. New England, Ridley 28-151, Bolden 14-54, Woodhead 7-47, Vereen 1-1, Brady 4-(minus 2).

Passing • Denver, Manning 31-44-0-345. New England, Brady 23-31-0-223.

Receiving • Denver, D.Thomas 9-188, Tamme 6-50, McGahee 5-51, Decker 4-21, Dreessen 4-21, Stokley 2-10, Hillman 1-4. New England, Welker 13-104, Gronkowski 4-35, Lloyd 3-34, Branch 1-25, Woodhead 1-25, Bolden 1-0.

Missed Field Goals • None.

NFL: Brady tops Manning, Patriots beat Broncos 31-21